I will have to see this episode again. I had heard about the plot and had a few interruptions during the showing. Maybe thats why I felt disappointed.

The writers seem to have lost the knack of making their point subtly and keeping a consistency between eps.
For instance showing Buffy's struggle and ineptitude in coping with every day life by missing the trash wagon by seconds. This is the Slayer for goodness sakes - as we are reminded by Sam she is fast and strong. Even I've caught the wagon and tossed a bag on, it should have been easy for Buffy!!

Well maybe the point is to make her look pretty pathetic and at a low point to contrast with the return to the "real" Buffy - hopefully soon!!!

And what about the fight scenes? Anyone else think they lack the flow, pace, dynamism, and skill of old? Buffy spends most of the time standing around waiting to throw a
roundhouse a blind man would see coming and then getting tossed aside. No pizzaz anymore!

Glad to see Riley again. He and Buffy needed to meet again to find some sort of closure.But I thinkit would have been better dealt with if more time had been given to explore their reaction to meeting again.

Was it a symptom of Riley's nervousness that he didn't brief Buffy properly? If so,again I think this was a clumsy way of portraying it (perfect soldier Finn screwing up a mission due to poor communication - puhlease!!!!)

Well lets hope Buffy has now been shocked out of any further dalliance with Spike and a bit of gumption and spark will return to her.

Nice to see a flash of the "old" Willow, and Dawn seems to have mellowed a little towards Buffy.
Things might be moving on at last!!

Thought this was a good episode.
LOL atXander and Anya discussing their wedding.
Good to see Willow getting all giddy at the prospect of seeing and talking to Tara again.
Interesting to see Riley back in town and with his missus in tow. Quite liked Sam.
Surprised it was Spike selling the demon eggs.

I liked it - I think that's two good eps in a row from my personal opinion!

It was interesting to see what Riley's been up to of late - what do you think of him with the scar, ladies? I've never been fond of the guy, he always seemed a little too naive for me (the big lug from Iowa), but it looks like he's finally grown up - and consistently with his character too. Hated his wife, she just came over all wrong to me, just the kind of person I don't get on with.

The demon bad guy looked impressive (kind of a fendahl on legs), but lost that as soon as it tried to fight. It definitely made the fight scenes look awkward, presumably because the actor couldn't see what they were doing! One of those ones where a little clever camera work would have made it work much better (like the bug-things from Angel, where we never actually saw them hit anything except in close-up).

And more of the old Willow: "I'll hate for the both of us" - keep going, babe!

I disagree that Riley's the perfect soldier, he's more of a commando/special ops type - and those people are not the ones you want following orders in a peace-keeping operation. Besides, he always did tend to forget procedure when Buffy was around!

As to the "pathetic" "no pizzaz" Buffy - I really think that was the point. They've been making a big deal about how she feels out of place in the world, since she came back. She's been warding that feeling off by hanging around with Spike, a relationship she didn't feel she could talk to anybody except Tara. I think the point was that she was losing effectiveness because she didn't try to rejoin the world - I think things will start to change now...

Shame about the college application though

I wrote a longer review in the spoiler forum a while ago, which you can read here if you're interested. No spoilers for later in the season.

But basically, I liked it a lot.

I thought the ep was just a little contrived. I didn't have a problem with Riley ommitting to mention straightaway that he was married, since it had to be awkward, but not to tell her it was a tracking objective? I mean, Buffy's the Slayer, not the tag and releaser (one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to track the caribou migration routes).

But in my happy land of tragic obsesion, did anyone else notice that Riley's scar, although longer and vertical, was in almost exactly the same place as Spike's?

In the shooting script it's the same kind of scar, but over the other eye. Either way you've got a nice sort of mirror/shadow thing going on there.

And did anyone else notice that Riley's a natural blonde, while Spike...I'll shut up now.

Thought the demon egg things were a bit of a let down. All that build-up and then one little grenade finishes the lot off. Also, to echo previous comments, it was ridiculous to suppose that Riley would neglect to mention to Buffy not to kill the demon - how many times has he seen her in action?

Didn't quite know how to take the comment from Riley's wife (forgot her name already!) - "I've never met anyone strong enough to fight a magic addiction before" - was she complementing Willow on her strength or casting doubt on whether she would be able to keep it up?

Finally seen it. A good episode. I always did like Riley. Nice to see him again

Felt all lumpy in the throat when Buffy called Spike 'William'. I guess she means it this time

But at least we got a bit more nekkid Spike!

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by Avenger
Thought the demon egg things were a bit of a let down. All that build-up and then one little grenade finishes the lot off.

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Strictly speaking it was five grenades, I think.

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by Avenger
Didn't quite know how to take the comment from Riley's wife (forgot her name already!) - "I've never met anyone strong enough to fight a magic addiction before" - was she complementing Willow on her strength or casting doubt on whether she would be able to keep it up?

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IIRC, what she said was that she'd never met anyone with strength enough to stop, which Willow had already done, so I figure it for a compliment.

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by Astronut

As to the "pathetic" "no pizzaz" Buffy - I really think that was the point.

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Could be, but I still think poor choreography of the fight scenes is evident.

Why Buffy out of breath when she ran after the dustmen? She'd only just ran out the the door and she is the Slayer. La la la...

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by Alf
(quotes)

Could be, but I still think poor choreography of the fight scenes is evident.

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I'm not sure about that. I mean, if you look at Buffy season 2 (for an example, it happens a lot however) the girl in the fight scenes is so obviously not Buffy that it's actually laughable. In Becoming when Buffy is fighting Angel, it looks like two strangers having a sword fight not Buffy and Angel - two well-choreographed strangers albeit. I'm not sure which I'd prefer except to say that I picked up on the Becoming thing and countless other intances of this happening in earlier seasons but I didn't so much in the 'poorly choreographed' episode I just watched. So I think I'd have to say I prefer the way the fights were done in 'as you were' if for no other reason than it actually looked like Buffy fighting. Not to say that either are particularly bad, it's just that I like the fights to be believable if nothing else.